Iran’s top weather authority has issued a tropical storm warning for the country’s southern coasts, saying that those regions be ready to evacuate on short notice.
Analyses of weather patterns by Iran Meteorological Organization show a tropical storm being formed in the Indian Ocean, which could make its way to Iran’s southern shores in Sistan-Baluchestan and Hormozgan provinces, which access the ocean through the Sea of Oman.
The storm is expected to strike Iran on September 26 and could last for up to five days, Mehr News Agency reported.
If no shift is observed in cloud patterns, the storm is expected to move directly toward the Sea of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz. Therefore, it would definitely affect the southern areas of Sistan-Baluchestan and western Hormozgan.
The last deadly tropical storm in the area occurred in 2007. Called Cyclone Gonu, the devastating storm killed 28 people and caused upward of $200 million in damages.
While it is too early to predict the path of the storm, the IMO advises people to make arrangements and be prepared to evacuate on short notice.
About 100 mm of rain are expected to fall.
A tropical storm is an intense storm, characterized by extremely low pressure and swirling wind rotation that usually develops in the tropics. These storms can bring damaging wind and very heavy rain to the areas they pass over. Though tropical storms are less powerful than hurricanes, they can still be quite destructive, causing property damage, injury and death.
Such storms begin as an atmospheric disturbance of low pressure. Wind moves into the low-pressure area from surrounding areas of high pressure. As warm ocean water heats the air, it rises at the center of the developing storm where it condenses, causing thunderstorms.
The system essentially feeds on itself, using warm ocean water as its fuel. Tropical storms usually show a recognizable pattern of rotation when viewed as a satellite image, but do not typically have the well-defined spiral pattern and “eye” associated with hurricanes.
